A portion of the civil secretariat’s boundary wall and dozens of vehicles and houses were damaged as gusty winds and thundershowers hit Jammu on Wednesday evening, also plunging the city into darkness, officials said.
According to police, there was no report of any casualty due to the strong winds from anywhere in the city and elsewhere.
A portion of the civil secretariat’s boundary wall, near the women’s park in the heart of the city, collapsed around 7:20 pm, the officials said.
Seven cars plying on the main road adjacent to the civil secretariat came under the barbed fencing but none of their occupants was injured, they said, adding that four of the vehicles were removed from the spot by the traffic department and efforts are on to move the other trapped vehicles.
A mobile phone tower fell down in the city’s Bahu Fort area, damaging four parked motorcycles and a residential house, the officials said.
They said a number of vehicles were damaged due to uprooting of trees and electric poles at several places in the city.
The power supply was snapped and efforts are on to restore the service, the officials said.
Meanwhile, reports from Ramban said heavy hailstorm hit parts of the Gool sub-division, causing damage to fruit-bearing trees and vegetables, besides loss of some livestock.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Gool, Imtiyaz Ahmed said three sheep and goats and some poultry birds were killed while the windows of two houses and plastic water tanks were damaged in the upper reaches of the sub-division.
Teams have been activated to assess the damage, he said, adding that several link roads were blocked due to landslides after hailstorm and rains in the area.
A landslide also blocked the Jammu-Poonch national highway, near the Rajouri district town, and a road-clearance operation is underway to make the vital road traffic-worthy, the officials said. — (PTI)
